Retirement Can Be Hell
by Angelholme
Summary: Buffy has reached 25 years old, the time at which a Slayer is allowed to retire.
1. Buffy's Retirement

Giles put the telephone down, and sighed.

He knew this had been coming - for the last six months he had been dreading it.

"Quentin might have died, but his spirit lives on" He thought, then he looked at his watch. Two hours - that was all the time he had to make arrangements, and carry out his duty. Otherwise it would be carried out by the newly formed council, and, he was certain, they would not be so graceful about it.

He stood up, and walked over to his desk. Reaching in to his pocket, he pulled out a key, and unlocked a tiny compartment at the bottom left hand side. Pausing for only a moment, he reached in, and pulled out the gun that had been hidden there since he moved in. He turned it over in his hand, examining it. Wondering if he could go through with what he knew he had to do.

xoxox

Buffy Summers sat up in bed, wondering what had woken her.

She had been dreaming - a relatively nice dream, at least from her perspective. Sure, there were monsters, and vampires, and demons. But she killed them all, and then found her way back to her beloved.

Of course, she reflected, it would have to be a dream. The man she loved - the one for whom she would live and die - had been killed eight months before. It was why she was staying in Giles' guest room, why she hadn't spoken to her sister in nearly six months and why she had thrown herself back in to Slaying, even with all the new Slayers running around in the world.

Suddenly, she heard a noise downstairs. She flipped back the covers, and started to get out of bed.

xoxox

Twenty five years. If a Slayer lived to be twenty five, she got to retire. It was considered a reward for her service, for her devotion to duty, and for the simple fact she hadn't died before.

The practice had been going on for years - centuries even. There were references as far back as the days of the Roman Empire. Of course, the references were few and far between - not many Slayers lived to retirement age. He had checked through the records, in preparation for this day, and there were only two in the last three centuries.

Giles shook his head as he realised he was distracting himself. He couldn't put this off any longer, not if he wanted it done properly.

"Lord only knows what the Council would do" He said to himself, but that wasn't strictly true. In the mid 1600s, a Slayer had passed retirement age, but her Watcher refused to accept the inevitable. Reports of what had happened next were sketchy, but Giles had managed to extract enough information from the file to know that, no matter what, he would not want Buffy to receive the same treatment.

He checked the weapon in his hand once more, then turned, and walked up the stairs.

xoxox

Buffy crept over to the door of her room, and gently pulled it open. She peered outside, then relaxed. It was only Giles. She pulled the door open, as an invitation, then sat down on the bed.

xoxox

Giles saw the door open, but no one came out. He walked up to it, and saw Buffy sat on the bed, waiting for him to come in. He gave a small smile when he noticed she was sat with her back to him. Would she ever learn?

xoxox

Buffy heard him enter, and knew at once what he was thinking.

"I know. I am sitting with my back to the door"

xoxox

"I know. I am sitting with my back to the door" He smiled again, but made no reply. Instead, he walked up behind her, raised the gun, and pressed it against the back of her head.

xoxox

She felt something press against the back of her head. At first, she couldn't place it, but then, when she heard the click of the safety catch, she knew what it was.

xoxox

"Giles. What are you doing?"

"When a Slayer reaches twenty five, she gets to retire" Giles said, almost mechanically "She is freed from the burden of having to fight any more"

"Okay"

"But this tradition was started hundreds of years ago Buffy..."

"When there was only ever one Slayer" She slowly stood up, and turned to face him "So when you say retire, you mean she is executed"

"It was the only way" Giles said, now trying to restrain the tears that were threatening to flow "My hands are tied, Buffy. There is nothing I can do"

xoxox

She stared at him in silence. Then she nodded.

"I understand. You have your orders. Orders from The Council"

"Yes, damn them. I do" He stared at her for a moment "I'm so very sorry"

"As am I" She gave him a smile, then it faded "So, Rupert, go ahead. Retire me"

xoxox

"So, Rupert, go ahead. Retire me"

He stared at her for a single, solitary moment, then he closed his eyes, and depressed the trigger...


	2. Authors Notes

The original idea for this story (which I first thought about nearly eight years ago, but then got distracted by other stories, and never came back to it) was a line from a story by **BeMu**, called _"Smoochies"_ (It can be found at _"The Place Where The Forbidden Love Dwells"_), about a Slayer living long enough to retire.

But in the olden days, with only one Slayer, retirement didn't mean riding off in to the sunset to play shuffleboard all day. It would have had to have meant something a little more permanent.

This was originally going to be a prologue to a longer story, about what happens next, but I am not sure I am capable of writing it any more.

So, for the moment, this stays as a one shot story, and the reader gets to decide whether Giles pulled the trigger, whether Buffy just stood there, and what happens in the next paragraph or two.

If I find my Buffy-Muse again, I may continue this later.


End file.
